Werfen has announced the largest acquisition in its history and also one of the main corporate operations carried out by a Catalan company so far this year. The Rubiralta family group has reached an agreement to acquire the US company Immucor, specialized in diagnostic products for hospitals and clinical laboratories and a benchmark in in vitro diagnosis of transfusions and transplants, from the investment fund TPG. The purchase price is close to 2,000 million dollars (2,025 million euros), a figure that Werfern plans to face with the cash it has on hand and bank debt that it has already agreed with BNP, BBVA, CaixaBank and HSBC. With this transaction,
Werfen will make a leap in the United States and expand its global presence, confirming itself as one of the Barcelona companies with the greatest international projection and future growth potential.During the pandemic, the company has already been in the spotlight after becoming one of the global leaders in diagnostic tests, with more than 1.8 million daily samples worldwide analyzed with reagents and systems developed by the group. Thanks to this favorable evolution, Werfen closed 2021 with a
turnover of 1,854 million euros, 9.3% more. For its part, Immucor invoiced around 360 million dollars last year.
With the acquisition of Georgia-based Immucor, the group will exceed 2.2 billion euros in revenue, will have seven technology centers, and will employ nearly 7,000 people worldwide, with a direct presence in 30 countries and more than 100 territories through distributors. "Immucor, one of the world leaders in the research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of innovative specialized diagnostic solutions for hospitals and clinical laboratories, fits naturally with our business model," explained Werfen's president, Marc Rubiralta. According to the businessman, Immucor has a strong global presence in the sector of
transfusions and transplants, a complementary specialty to its current business aligned with Werfen's "long-term vision and strategy," as it enables "greater diversification, while maintaining a commitment to specialization." In this vein, the CEO of the Barcelona-based group, Carlos Pascual, assures that this acquisition "will be a key milestone in Werfen's future," as "it will give us access to new markets and help us achieve our vision of being the preferred choice for the world's most advanced clinical laboratories."
Headquartered in a tower in Plaza Europa in L'Hospitalet, the group obtained a net profit of 363 million euros in 2021, up 39%. Ebitda also climbed 25%, with a record figure of 599 million. In its R&D laboratories alone, Werfen executed investments of 111 million last year, up 5%. The group's global investment, including the amount allocated to fixed assets, amounted to 221 million.
In 2021, for the first time, Werfen placed a 300 million bond on the capital markets, which allowed it to refinance all its debt and received an investment grade rating from credit agencies. According to the company, the acquisition of Immucor is not expected to affect its investment grade rating by Standard & Poor's. The transaction is estimated to close during the first half of 2023, once all regulatory authority permits have been obtained. Werfen has production centers in Catalonia, England, the United States, and Germany. In addition to its testing division for
in vitro diagnostics, to which Immucor will be incorporated, the group operates with two other large divisions: fmanufacturing for third parties of reagents and biomaterials, and medical devices, such as drug infusion pumps.